


Filling in the Gaps - Coming Home

by Thefishoutofwater



Series: Filling in the Gaps [7]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Jealousy, post episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 20:07:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13325541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thefishoutofwater/pseuds/Thefishoutofwater
Summary: A/N Consider this to be some missing or alternative scenes and thoughts to go with the She's Leaving Home episode, Season 11, Episode 23 which finishes my earlier story.





	Filling in the Gaps - Coming Home

The New Year had arrived and with it the usual flurry of New Year Resolution injuries; broken bones from new fitness regimes, extreme dieters collapsing and more than one nasty set of cuts or burns as enthusiastic amateurs tried more than they could manage in the kitchen.

There was, thought Jo Wilson as she completed a set of stiches on a shame faced middle aged man who had possibly never been in a kitchen before his ill-fated attempt to make sushi, something comforting in the predictability of the cycles they saw around the hospital.  But maybe she thought cynically she was just looking for comfort wherever she could find it since Meredith Grey had tipped their worlds upside down again in the first days of the New Year.

Several hours later she was still lost in her own thoughts as she blindly surveyed the OR board, not really hearing Stephanie as she approached from behind.

“You look terrible,” her friend stated bluntly, “do we need to go get a drink tonight. Let it all out?”

“Can’t. Got to go get Alex from the airport.”

“Let him get a cab. Put him out for once.”

Jo thought for a moment. A drink would be good. Sending Alex a message would be good. She had been silently seething about the phone call and his approach to it all week.

_The phone had been answered before the second ring and she’d watched a flurry of emotions play over his face in the thirty seconds after he confirmed his name. The rare, glorious smile as he hung up. He had not even bothered to explain to her first as he’d yelled for Robbins._

_“Arizona!” he’d shouted moving to the corridor, “We’ve found her!”_

_“Looks like she’s found you.” Jo had muttered snarkily only to be ignored entirely as Alex continued,_

_“Can you cover me tonight? I’ll talk to Bailey on the way to the airport.”_

_Arizona had appeared in the hallway, a bright smile on her face,_

_“Where? What?”_

_“She’s in San Diego – that was the hospital there”_

_“The hospital? What’s wrong”_

_He’d laughed then,_

_“Nothing. Well nothing really. She’s had a baby! Looks like it was a difficult delivery, but she is fine. The baby is fine.”_

_Jo had still been trying to do the maths on this new piece of information when Arizona changed tack,_

_“But you didn’t speak to her? In that case maybe they’re underselling the problems until you get there. You know how it is when telling family bad news? You don’t want a nervous next of kin on a plane for hours worrying any more than they need to. Did you tell them you were a doctor? So they’d play it straight? Maybe I should come too?”_

_Jo’s eyes had widened,_

_“Alex isn’t her next of kin, they probably just called the most received number on her phone or something” she’d turned to her boyfriend, “look I’m pleased she’s ok but maybe you should let Pierce or Shepherd know. Surely one of her actual family ought to go to her. Assuming she’s decided she actually wants to see people now.”_

_Alex had ignored the comment entirely whilst Arizona had looked almost pityingly at her,_

_“Go pack Alex. I’ll get on the web and find you a flight.”_

Jo snapped back to the present,

“Go on. I’ve not seen him in ten days another couple of hours won’t hurt.”

 

*****

Jo had just tipped the second  bottle of wine over their glasses draining it. She picked up her glass and clinked it, clumsily against the side of Stephanie’s.

“Happy Fucking New Year!” She exclaimed, not for the first time since they’d slid into the corner table several hours before.

“Jo pull yourself together,” Stephanie had decided it was time for some tough love, “Is she coming back here? Or is she going to stay?”

“I presume she’s coming back but he’s not said exactly.”

“Well what has he said?” she was exasperated.

“Not a lot. Mostly by the time we talk he’s tired. For the first week he’d been looking after the kids, running them around and then taking them backwards and forwards to the hospital,” she sniffed, “it’s not so long ago that he was trying to get out of babysitting for the weekend and now he’s making lunches and doing car pool!”

“She’s out of hospital now though?”

“Yes, released a couple of days ago.”

“What? So they’re just shacked up playing happy families?”

“Thanks for that,” Jo glared at her friend, “He’s been making sure she can cope. It was a difficult delivery. He’s a good friend.” She stressed the end of her sentence.

“Not a great boyfriend though right? Her delivery with Bailey wasn’t exactly easy and she was fine.”

“I said that! I was however reminded that she had Torres and Shepherd around then. I told him a week ago he should come home and send her sister out, or for that matter get one of Dr Shepherd’s sisters but he said he needed to do it.”

“Jo you need to talk to him. I get she’s been through hell, but he needs to come home to you. He’s got patients and students. And if he’s not going to do that you know what you need to do.”

Jo bit her lips, sadly,

“I know he can treat me like crap sometimes, but I love him Steph, and I’m going to wait this thing out. Maybe she won’t come back and even if she does at some point he’s going to crack. He was so worried and so angry when she was gone. There’s no way that’s not going to come out and then we can get back to a normal.”

She drained her glass,

“I gotta get home. Thanks though.” And with a resigned smile she slowly staggered off through the bar.

 

It was early February and Alex was driving Jo into work, a tense atmosphere in the car full of conversations still unhad as the windscreen wipers worked furiously against the streaming rain. The loud alert of a text message from Alex’ phone split the silence.

“Can you check that please?” he gestured to his bag in the footwell.

Jo stretched down, thinking about how happy she would have been a few months earlier for him not to have been so attached to his phone,

“It’s from Dr Grey,” she announced unsurprised, “shall I leave it or open it?”

“Open please, see what she says.”

Jo hit the button and looked,

“Jo?” he sounded frustrated, “what does it say?”

“It’s a picture message, no words. Loads of packing boxes, Zola hiding behind a sealed stack, Bailey sitting in an open one. She's grown lots. She’s pretty damn cute.”

She watched as his mouth curled upwards into a slight smile but he said nothing.

“I guess this means she’s moving back then?”

“Yup. She’s hoping to ship by the end of this week and then I’ll go back next week and bring her and the kids.”

“She managed to leave fine on her own, why does she need help getting back?” Jo was aware she sounded petulant but couldn’t help herself.

“She was grieving and a hot mess when she left, by all accounts with pretty much 1 big suitcase and 2 kids who walk. She’s coming back with a years’ worth of stuff, 3 kids including a newborn after major abdominal surgery.” He paused and tried to modulate his voice which had got louder and harder, “She’s nervous Jo, she needs some support. Pierce would fuss and she’d hate that and it’d stress the kids out. I think Shepherd is still pretty pissed. If we’re ever going to get back to normal this needs to be as easy as possible.”

He risked a glance in her direction as they slowed to a set of lights and placed a hand gently on her leg,

“I need to do this.”

She nodded reluctantly.

“Shall I respond to this for you?” It was a peace offering of sorts and he took it for what it was,  

“No, it’s fine.  Just save the photo for me please?”

Jo leaned her head against the window doing as he’d asked and then flicking through the photo roll looking through photo after photo of the Grey-Shepherds.


End file.
